Snapdragon Wear is Qualcomm’s New Longer Lasting Wearable Chip, LG Promises to Use It

Qualcomm is ready to power the next generation of wearables with their new Snapdragon Wear platform and Snapdragon Wear 2100 chipset. Through a press release this morning, the San Diego based company announced that their new 2100 chipset will help manufacturers release wearables (like smartwatches) with “sleek designs, long battery life, smart sensing, and always-connected experiences.”

The Snapdragon Wear 2100 will arrive in two versions – tethered (Bluetooth and WiFi) and connected (4G LTE and 3G). That means we’ll not only see WiFi-only models, but those powered by wireless radios as well, to give you connectivity without a phone nearby.

As for the stats and improvements, the Wear 2100 is 30% smaller than the Snapdragon 400, which has become the standard wearable chipset for Android Wear devices. The new 2100 uses 25% lower power than the 400, as well, so you should be able to kill a day and then some depending on a watch’s battery capacity. The 2100 will also include smarter sensors and a next-gen LTE modem, plus low power WiFi and Bluetooth.

So far, LG has confirmed plans to use the Snapdragon Wear 2100 in future products “later this year.”

Qualcomm says that “Snapdragon Wear 2100 and other products” within the Snapdragon Wear platform “are available today,” though they must be referring to those running Snapdragon 400 chips. Because as far as I know, a Snapdragon Wear 2100 powered device does not currently exist.

Along with this announcement of their *custom designed* SD 2100 wearable chip, they announced 2 new 400 series SoCs and a new 600 series SoC today as well.

Qualcomm is killin it!

Matthew Dickinson

Love the fact that we have options, but I’m still not up for “connected” watches. I have problems as it is using my “tethered” watch for a full day. That and it’s another charge from your carrier.

Raven

I think they literally mean that the Snapdragon Wear 2100 chip is available today for manufacturers to use in their devices even though it may be some time before those devices are released. This plus Doze of Marshmallow Wear should make for some pretty long lasting watches.